Messages Made Me Do It; That'll Be To Go!

Everything tastes better when it’s wrapped in pretty paper direct from the benign happy place inhabited by Ronald McDonald. That’s the message anyway from a new study published by the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.
Children ranging from three to five years old were shown foods wrapped in "MickeyD" wrappers and asked to compare the food’s taste with identical food wrapped in generic wrapper having similar colors. Overwhelmingly, the children described the McDonald’s-wrapped food as tasting better.

Taste is perception right? When children are bombarded with commercial images since practically the day they are born (or on the day they are born if Mom’s hospital room has a television), their perception regarding what is of quality or importance is markedly influenced.

I suspect it should come as no surprise to anyone that the costly-carefully-crafted, specifically designed-to-appeal-to-children messages are received loud and clear by their intended audience. Given the variety of advertising that is both child and adult-focused, I wonder what other messages are received. Immigrants are poor and threatening, beer makes everything better and the world's multinational corporations really do have your best interests in mind.

"Its the supermarket to the world and brings good things to life."

What I don’t wonder is whether corporate America has any hesitation to exploit our children on behalf of the bottom line.

"Parents don't choose for their children to be exposed to this type of marketing," noted Thomas Robinson, MD, director of the Center for Healthy Weight at Packard Children's and associate professor of pediatrics and of medicine at the School of Medicine. "Parents have a very difficult job. It may seem easier to give in to their child's plea to go to McDonald's than to give in to the many other hundreds of requests they get during a day."

Um hmmm… hundreds of requests... "Mommy, can I put my fingers in the garbage disposal?"... "Daddy, will you please give me a shot of Jack?"... "I hate you! You never let me play on the interstate like all the other kids!"

Yes, those hundreds of requests sure can wear a parent down. Better to make the kid fat and give-in than to have to make a good choice for one’s children. Ah well, McDonalds need not worry about my qualms.

Judging by the number of Happy Meals sold last year I’m clearly in the minority to suggest that the right choice is to not take your children to McDonalds or any other fast-food establishment.

This just in: The number of Happy Meals sold worldwide with apple slices rather than fries is not available. Apparently, because the company won’t disclose the information.